definition of philosophy of psychology

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I was wondering if you could give me a "good" definition for what exactly is philosophy of psychology? I would appreciate this very much....Betty

-- Laura Eve Rivers (k00jr01@kzoo.edu), June 02, 2001

Answers

I'm definitely not the "expert" on this, but I can recommend a source that you might want to read. It won't give you a "crisp" definition of what the philosophy of psychology is, but it will probably help you get a feel for it. Here's the source:

Baldwin, J. M. (1913). History of Psychology: A Sketch and an Interpretation. An on-line version on "Classics in the History of Psychology" is available at the following address:

http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Baldwin/History/

Specifically, you might want to take a look at the following chapters:

Chapter VIII. Philosophical Psychology: Dualism, Rationalism, Dogmatism, Empiricism

Chapter III. Preliminary Survey. Philosophical Psychology Since Kant

Hope that helps.

Dan. dand@yorku.ca

-- Daniel J. Denis (dand@yorku.ca), June 06, 2001.


As an aproximate guide there are three types of philosophy. 1. Ontology: Ontologists answer the question "What is such and such? So to ask the question "What is the psyche? for instance, is asking a philosophic question. The psyche is a bundle of neurons. Or its reason, imagining, and willing. Ontology seeks the ultimate nature of things. 2. cosmology is a type of philosophy. It seeks the ultimate origin of things. What is the ultimate origin of the psyche? (God created it. Or, a long time after the big bang and due to a process of atoms banging into each other they organized themselves into more complex entities. One type of entity is a sentient being, hence the origin of the psyche. 3. Epistimology is a third type of philosophy. How do we know? (anything). We know by deducing truths from a foundation of 'hard facts'. Or, we know because our beliefs cohere with each other. This type of philosophy is relevant to psychology in the sense that "how do we know research findings are reliable? If, for instance, multiple personality disorder is an illness (ontology), how do we know it is an illness (epistimology)?

The best way to understand the philosophy of psychology is to do it. That is, answer the (three) questions for yourself. What is the psyche? Where did it come from? And how do you know that? Then by doing philosophy, you will come to know what it is and why, and to what extent it is relevant.

-- J. Hedlin (jhedlin@canada.com), January 25, 2002.


You might also look at Robert Brodie MacLeod's The Persistent Problems of Psychology (Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press, 1975) for an overview of many of these issues. Also Dan Robinson's An Intellectual History of Psychology, which has nice summaries of The Problem of Knowledge, The Origins of Reason and other philosophical issues in the history of psychology.

-- Hendrika Vande Kemp (hendrika@earthlink.net), January 29, 2002.

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